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| | I'm baaaaack!I finally got the internet at my new place, woohoo!
I hope you're all having a swell summer... mine's had a lot of ups and
downs. I'm not working at all anymore - the last daycare fell
through. I dunno why it's taking so long for the doctors to
diagnose Trevor with something... I have a feeling he might need some
kind of meds for the ADHD in order for him to be able to slow down and
concentrate on learning - kinda scary considering he's only 4 but if it
will help him...
So now I've got a few decisions to make... I think I'll be able to get
Trevor into the developmental center in Webb City in the fall, they're
just full for the summer - then I should be able to get a job.
Where should I go?
1) FedEx (Because I have friends who work there, and I'd feel pimpin if I could learn to drive a big truck and not run over cones, lol)
2) Wal-Mart again (er... not the best
starting pay but if you stay awhile the benefits get better and the
medical insurance is about as cheap as it gets for adults)
3) IHOP or a similar restaurant - I always wondered how much I could make in tips...
4) Child Care - Should I simply add to the number of children jumping up and down on my couch when I'm not looking?
Hmmmmm
And then the next
important decision to make is, do I keep the duplex, or sell the
duplex? Josh is pretty much letting me decide if I want to stay
here and sell it later, or sell it now... we're just going to split the
profit when it is sold. But I dunno. Help me decide!
I'm weighing the PRO's and CON's.
CON's -
1) this is an older house, and in the next few years it will need quite a few updates/repairs, such as:
new roof
new paint/wallpaper
some wiring problems fixed (some of the outlets on the older side don't work anymore)
//who knows what else?//
-- good news is that the floors and attic and most of the walls appear to be really sturdy and solid...
2) the house isn't in the best location, it's near downtown so I dunno
how much the value will go up over the years, or if more businesses
will pop up around it which may deter people from buying it in future
years...
3) if future renters decide to skip out or not pay, that will suck...
of course that's what leases are for... but... there's always
potiential for it to be a big pain in the butt...
4) there's not much of a front yard for my kids to play in - but there
I think if I put a chain link fence around most of the front yard
they'll have enough room for a swingset and a small wading pool or
something...
PRO's-
1) Real estate is said to be the best investment, and with my
credit now made crappy due to the drama that happened with that other
house, I'm not sure I'll be able to buy a place again in the near
future... and there is a lot of POTIENTIAL with this place. The
con is that right now if something else goes wrong up front, I'm not
going to have the $ to fix it!
2) The math is a compelling reason to keep it, save that everything
goes smoothly with renters and repairs. The renter's payment
covers the mortage now - and if I can come up with enough to double the
payment each month (shouldn't be too hard once everything falls in
order!), it could be paid off within 7-8 years. Once it's paid
off, I'll probably try to get a bigger place since my kids will be
teenagers (and by then I would THINK that my credit would look better -
lol)... we'll be pocketing the payment the renters make, splitting it
equally, $425/month for both of us. If we do that for 10 years,
we'll make
around $33,000 each. Then if we went ahead and sold it, we'd get
a total of $80,000 (? possibly more if it's worth more... the value has
already gone up quite a bit the last couple of years) for it
altogether, minus say 10,000 (? that may be a low estimate though, lol)
for repairs +
our equity, ($13,000 some right now... I'm not sure how much more that
will go up over the years) we'll have earned, oh, at least $57,000
total profit from the sale, or another $28,000
apiece, and recovering the amt for equity/reparis means 13,000 more
apiece for a total of $41,000 apiece, plus what we earn renting it out,
leaves us both with $77,000 profit in the end - basically doubling what
we
originally bought it for. So that means I could get a house for
around $60,000 about 8 years from now and still have enough money
leftover in the end for a
good car, lol - and not have to pay much out of my pocket for it!
So by the time I'm... 42... I'll be able to put a lot of money back for
retirement because I wouldn't have a house payment... and help my kids
out with college... and Josh can do whatever he wants to do with his
money...
I'm so not used to thinking that far into the future. My brain has a cramp.
But yeah, so, what would you do? For the long term, it'd be wiser
to keep it, but my short term problems are that my car keeps messing up
and I dunno if/when something may break! And of coure, being
jobless - so I'm not sure if I should go ahead and let this place go so
that I can get a better vehicle, or what. It won't be a problem
once I have a steady job and a permanent place for my kids for daycare,
though. If I can just get through these next couple of months and
get everything straightened out without losing my mind... heh.
Good thing is that I own my car outright so, if all else fails and I'm
desperate for money I can always get a title loan. Don't want to
have to do that because I've heard from friends that it was really hard
for them to get their titles back, etc -- anyone have any experience
with THAT??? lol...
But yeah... just some decisions I need to make... help! =P
<3
Melissa
| | | Posted 7/16/2006 12:47 PM - 1 view - 3 comments
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